Iraq’s oil exports rose 11.5% in the year to March 2018, Middle East Monitor reported.

The country exported 107.05 million barrels in March 2018, up from 96 million barrels in March 2017, according to figures released by the Iraqi Oil Ministry.

The value of Iraq’s oil exports for March 2018 amounted to $6.4 billion, the Iraqi Oil Ministry was quoted as saying on April 22. None of these figures account for the fields of Kirkuk, spokesman, Asem Jihad, noted.

“The average price per barrel recorded $60.114. The exported quantities were loaded by 39 international companies from the ports of Basra, Khor Al-Aamya and the floats on the Gulf,” Jihad added.

Exports from the northern terminal of Kirkuk, in the territory of the Kurdish Regional Government but under the control of Baghdad, stopped in October 2017 when Iraqi government troops forced Kurdish fighters out of the region.

The semi-autonomous Kurdistan region currently exports about 300,000 barrels per day (b/d) of crude from northern Iraq through a pipeline across Turkey.